Press Release: U.S. Department of the Treasury Approves Mentor-Protégé Agreement for IBM and ASR Analytics
September 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Potomac, MD, September 30, 2008: ASR Analytics LLC, a consulting firm providing advanced analytic services to public and private sector clients, recently entered into a Mentor-Protégé agreement with IBM Global Business Services (NYSE: IBM), under the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, Mentor-Protégé program. Through this 10 month agreement (with the option to extend), IBM will provide developmental assistance and mentoring to ASR in areas such as corporate management and infrastructure and performance management. The Mentor-Protégé relationship will also foster increased collaboration between ASR and IBM in delivering consulting services to the Department of Treasury, helping the department modernize, manage performance, and provide outstanding service to taxpayers.
The Treasury Mentor-Protégé program was created to motivate and encourage firms to assist small businesses, including HUBZone small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned small businesses, veteran-owned small businesses, and service disabled veteran-owned small businesses. The program is also designed to improve the performance of Department of the Treasury contracts and subcontracts, foster the establishment of long-term business relationships between these entities and Treasury prime contractors, and increase the overall number of these entities that receive Treasury contract and subcontract awards.
According to Mike Stavrianos, a founding principal of ASR Analytics, the partnership will be mutually beneficial for all parties. “ASR is proud to have been selected by IBM Global Business Services and the U.S. Department of Treasury for the Mentor-Protégé program,” said Stavrianos. “While ASR will certainly benefit from the opportunity afforded by this innovative program, we plan to contribute greatly to make this a win-win-win partnership for all involved.”
IBM has participated in the Treasury Mentor-Protégé program since 2001, having served as a mentor to a select group of small businesses. IBM is a major provider of business and IT consulting services to the federal government and has extensive experience working with the Department of Treasury.
“ASR’s domain expertise surrounding tax policy and tax system administration, combined with their expertise in advanced analytics solutions will enhance IBM’s ability to provide unique solutions to its current and future clients within the Department of Treasury,” said Mona Kotlarsky, Executive Project Manager at IBM Global Business Services.
For more information about ASR Analytics solutions for government clients, visit: http://www.asranalytics.com/solutions/government/
About ASR Analytics, LLC
ASR Analytics LLC (ASR) provides customized business intelligence and analytic consulting services to clients in the public and private sectors. ASR aims to provide policy makers with self-service decision support tools to ensure regulatory compliance and increase organizational effectiveness. To learn more about our solutions visit: http://www.asranalytics.com/.
Press Release: ASR Analytics Puts Predictive Analytics Directly into the Hands of Enrollment Managers
September 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Seattle, WA, September 25, 2008: While attending the National Association for College Admission Counselors (NACAC) 64th Annual Conference, ASR unveiled its new Predictive Analytics Solution for Recruitment and Admission. The new solution is designed to put the power of advanced analytics directly into the hands of enrollment management professionals for better evidence-based decision making. ASR’s Recruitment Analytic Models leverage institution specific data to estimate statistically valid forecasts of future enrollment, net tuition revenue, and even retention rates. These models provide enrollment managers with evidence based predictions for shaping the incoming class with the ‘ideal’ students for their institution.
ASR’s solution is different. Admissions professionals will be able to interact with the models to build various enrollment scenarios and change the model’s assumptions. This helps them understand the inevitable trade-offs that can happen when they simulate various policy ‘levers.’ ASR’s solution focuses on making these models accessible to non-technical admissions professionals. Most of the solutions on the market require an IT professional to extract data in a specific file format to provide to a third party that estimates an analytic model. The institution receives a static report to guide planning decisions, but it doesn’t let them simulate a variety of scenarios.
ASR’s new Predictive Analytics Solution for Recruitment and Admission will help the institution develop its recruitment strategy and at the same time enable better day-to-day tactical decision making. The solution will help institutions to:
- Identify causal factors for enrollment
- Analyze a prospect pool for more effective list purchases
- Simulate a multitude of enrollment scenarios
- Forecast enrollment on a daily basis throughout the recruitment lifecycle
- Perform decision impact analysis and assessment
There were three main goals in development of the framework:
- Provide a user-friendly way for busy enrollment management professionals to interact with predictive models to aid in institutional planning.
- Produce a solution that works with existing tools and technology already in use at the institution.
- Eliminate the need for clients to pay new recurring software license fees.
The secret to successfully meeting these goals lies in ASR’s ability to develop analytic solutions that help institutions integrate their people, process, and technology. “We think it’s critically important that advanced analytics are put directly into the hands of those that do the planning and make the decisions” said, Dr. Peter Arena, ASR’s founding principal and chief statistician for higher education. “Using simple, point-and-click interfaces – enrollment professionals can bring data and information to life. The result is a rich user experience that makes it easier to visualize data, simulate decisions before they are made, and ultimately optimize recruiting.”
To learn more about ASR’s solutions for higher education visit:
ASR’s Predictive Analytics Solution for Recruitment and Admissions: http://www.asranalytics.com/solutions/education/recruitment-analytics/
ASR’s solutions for Higher Education: http://www.asranalytics.com/solutions/education/
ASR’s business intelligence blog: http://www.asranalytics.com/category/blog/
About ASR Analytics, LLC
ASR Analytics LLC (ASR) provides high-end business intelligence and analytic consulting services to clients in higher education. ASR aims to provide institutional decision makers with self-service decision support tools to help them be more effective in their recruitment, retention, and accountability initiatives. To learn more about our solutions visit: http://www.asranalytics.com/
ASR Director Authors Featured Article in Campus Technology Magazine
March 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The March issue of Campus Technology magazine features a cover story written by ASR Analytics’ Director of Higher Education Services, Graham Tracey. The article, titled “Stir up Your BI Initiative,” details the ingredients needed to implement business intelligence successfully in higher education. His next article in the magazine is about data visualization and will be published in the May issue.
ASR Analytics Introduces Business Intelligence Accountability Framework for Higher Education
February 21, 2008 | 2 Comments
ASR Analytics issued the following press release on Thursday, February 21. The press release is also available via PRWeb.
ASR Analytics Introduces Business Intelligence Accountability Framework for Higher Education
Institutions are struggling with reporting for IPEDS, Common Data Set, Achieving the Dream, and other accountability initiatives in higher education. ASR Analytics introduces a framework for reporting through these accountability programs while helping institutions use the data for strategic reporting and analysis. ASR Analytics’ new Accountability Framework for Higher Education uses business intelligence methodologies to make a sustainable reporting foundation for decision making.
Potomac, MD (PRWEB) February 21, 2008 — Students, parents, and the larger college or university community are demanding that institutions be more transparent about graduation rates, the admitted class profile, and the success of their alumni. In fact, the U.S. Federal Government is requiring institutions of higher education to be publicly accountable for outcomes and results.
IPEDS is continually changing to reflect this new reality, while accrediting agencies and associations are responding to the call with new accountability reporting systems, including:
- IPEDS
- Common Data Set
- U-CAN - University and College Accountability Network
- College Portrait - Voluntary System of Accountability
- Achieving the Dream
- Access to Success
With so many accountability initiatives in higher education it is becoming increasingly difficult for Institutional Research departments to keep up. Talented analysts are spending an exorbitant amount of time extracting often duplicate information from transactional systems to provide to these accountability initiatives in the proper format. Although the information produced through these initiatives is extremely valuable, it often goes unused by institutional decision makers as it is not stored in a format that makes it conducive for strategic reporting and analysis.ASR Analytics provides a unique solution to these problems by helping institutions establish a framework for accountability reporting using business intelligence methods and best practices. The goal of the Accountability Framework for Higher Education is to provide institutions with a system that facilitates strategic reporting and analysis using the same valuable data that needs to be reported to IPEDS, Common Data Set, and other important accountability initiatives.
“We’ve turned accountability reporting upside down,” said Graham Tracey, ASR Analytics’ Director of Higher Education Services. “First, we pull the data needed by the accountability initiatives out of the student information system and optimize it for strategic reporting and analysis, only then is the data layout prepared for submission.”
“It’s a bit like paying yourself before paying your bills each month,” said Tracey. “Why not use this valuable data for decision making before submitting it and effectively ‘throwing it away’?”
With ASR Analytics’ Accountability Framework for Higher Education, instead of worrying about extracting data and querying transactional systems, Institutional Researchers will be able to spend more time providing valuable insight and analysis to decision makers.
Deans, Department Heads, and Executives will also benefit through self-service strategic reporting that accurately reflects the reality that has been reported to governments, accrediting agencies, and voluntary accountability organizations.
ASR’s Accountability Framework: http://www.asranalytics.com/solutions/education/accountability/
ASR’s solutions for Higher Education: http://www.asranalytics.com/solutions/education/
ASR’s business intelligence blog: http://www.asranalytics.com/category/blog/
About ASR Analytics, LLC
ASR Analytics LLC (ASR) provides high-end business intelligence and analytic consulting services to clients in higher education. ASR aims to provide institutional decision makers with self-service decision support tools to help them be more effective in their recruitment, retention, and accountability initiatives. To learn more about our solutions visit: http://www.asranalytics.com/.
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ASR selected to assist with SAS Fair Banking implementation at major bank
December 15, 2007 | Leave a Comment
ASR has been selected to assist with the implementation of the SAS Fair Banking solution at a very large nationwide mortgage lender. ASR was selected for this assignment based on past success implementing the SAS Fair Banking solution at a midsized morgage lender earlier this year. This will be one of the first implementations of latest version of SAS Fair Banking (version 8). The SAS Fair Banking solution provides a complete set of tools for self-assessing compliance with the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). SAS Fair Banking enables mortgage lending institutions to effectively and efficiently collect, validate, store, isolate, aggregate, and report on loan data and loan application data. This enables financial institutions to better understand how their organization is performing based on the key compliance concerns behind HMDA and CRA. As a result, the institutions are able to meet the rigorous HMDA and CRA filing requirements with greater accuracy and timeliness. ASR will be working as a subcontractor to Zencos Consulting LLC and SAS on this engagement.
ASR provides A-123 compliance services to the Veterans Administration
August 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment
ASR Analytics is working with Grant Thornton to provide A-123 compliance services to the Veterans Health Administration. ASR is developing samples of financial records to be used as part of a valuation and accuracy study of VHA capital equipment. ASR is also providing discovery sampling methodologies to validate existing inventory records.
ASR uses SAS to develop Achieving the Dream solution for North Harris Montgomery Community College District
July 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment
ASR Analytics is awarded a project with North Harris Montgomery Community College District (NHMCCD) to develop a SAS Enterprise Business Intelligence solution in support of the Achieving the Dream initiative. Project objectives include the development of data integration processes from existing data sources and the deployment of several OLAP cubes for enterprise wide information consumption by key stakeholders.
ASR impelements SAS Fair Banking Solution for mid-sized mortgage lender
May 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment
ASR Analytics performed the first configuration of the SAS Fair Banking Solution at a mid-sized mortgage lender. This configuration included the development of custom filters to flag loans with potential problems as well as implementation of all of the standard data management and reporting features of the SAS Fair Banking Solution. The solution was completely installed in the development environment within 90 days of project start.
Founding principal of ASR to present at International Business Rules Forum
May 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment
ASR Analytics founding principal invited to present at 10th Annual International Business Rules Forum in October in Orlando, FL. The presentation will cover how ASR is helping the IRS manage and leverage its business rules using RuleBurst software.
ASR again selected to provide A-123 and IPIA compliance services at the U.S. Department of Labor
May 15, 2007 | Leave a Comment
For the second year in a row, ASR Analytics is supporting the U.S. Department of Labor (”DOL”) Office of the Chief Financial Officer to validate controls over financial transactions performed by the Department. ASR is performing a variety of tasks surrounding selection, analysis, and validation of statistical sampling methodologies. DOL seeks to achieve three objectives through this project: (1) test internal controls over the key business processes, in accordance with the requirements of the revised Circular A-123, Appendix A; (2) satisfy the testing requirements for the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 for designated business processes/programs; and (3) project the amount of monetary misstatement that may exist in all material financial statement line items. ASR is performing this work as a subcontractor to Grant Thornton.